Tag: Plant-Based Diet

I’m starting to transition to a plant-based diet. It’s something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while and had introduced a couple of “no meat meals” a week in view of trying to be a little healthier. Well, after having some health issues of late, I’ve now drastically upped that number to 100% of my meals.

To give a very brief and condensed version of the story (and apologies if this is TMI for some of you – you have been warned!) – I have struggled with increasing severe period pains, and in December and February it reached it’s peak. I was doubled over and crying out with pain, and in February the pain was so bad it made me throw up and took a couple of weeks to recover enough to the point I didn’t need to take pain killers daily. I’ve never experienced pain that bad before in my life so I knew I had to do something about it as it was definitely abnormal.

Alongside seeing several doctors and having multiple tests (which I’m still undergoing), I also started doing my own research. One website led to another and somewhere along the way I came across this article that talked about a link between animal products causing inflammation in the body and period pain. Having already been intrigued by a plant-based diet I decided to cut out all meat, at the very least up until my next period, and just see what happened.

Well I can report that I feel amazing! Before I started getting this severe pain I still used to get pretty bad cramps which would sometimes result in time off work and having to alternate paracetamol and ibuprofen for days just to take the edge off, and I haven’t even had that pain! I had back pain for one day (it previously used to last at least 2), and felt a bit tired (just on my period), but other than that I’ve felt great!

I was worried I might get hungry, but I’ve just made sure to load up my plate with veggies in the evenings and I haven’t felt hungry once. I’ve not even been having afters like I normally would, and only craved meat a couple of times in the first couple of weeks of being strictly no meat. I’ve even discovered a couple of new favourite recipes! I’ve been posting pics of some of my meals on Instagram, so follow me over there if you want to see what I’ve been eating (the Briam is a particular favourite!).

This past period has been the best I have felt in years and I couldn’t be happier. Whether or not it’s a coincidence I can’t say for sure, but I do know that I will be continuing to keep up with my plant-based meals. Let me know if you would like a post on what I typically eat in a day, or what my weekly evening meals are. Also let me know if you have any great recipes for me to try so I can expand my collection of favourites!